New chamber board and staff ready for action

During the second week in August, the Chamber’s board and staff met for our annual retreat.

While the word retreat may sound lavish, it’s a simple one day meeting at the Fountain Hills Community Center where we share ideas and create the strategies for this year.

Our facilitator worked through a fast-paced schedule with the usual plethora of flip charts and ideas coming from all corners of the room.

The Chamber’s board is comprised of members serving overlapping terms that allow the board to transition with 3-4 exiting and entering directors each year. This creates an environment of change, new ideas and avoids any one person from being “tenured”. Our staff consists of five professionals with collectively over 50 years of chamber experience.

Rosaria Cain, CEO and Founder of Knoodle, is serving as our Chair for this year. She has an ambitious and proactive approach to moving forward with new plans, short/long-term goals and asking everyone to roll-up their sleeves and stay involved.

The key strategies that our board identified are developing consistent messaging and one voice to market all attractions, features and community events throughout Fountain Hills. In other words, if the Town employed a public relations manager this person could maintain consistent messaging and build stronger relationships with news outlets.

However, with the recent defeat of the property tax, and the Town’s very modest operating budget, it seems this opportunity may be missed due to a lack of priority and funds. Even without an official role, the Chamber’s board supports the idea that we should speak with one voice and will be convening an effort to bring all key stakeholders together to have this conversation at a community level.

Joining the board this year is Tricia Ponce de Leon, General Manager with Republic Services, Rich Barker Team Owner/Realtor of Keller Williams Arizona Realty, Annette Tingey, Owner of Desert Title MVS and Bill Hinz, Owner of CopperWynd Resort and the new Superintendent of the Fountain Hills School District, Dr. Robert Allen.

Also serving on the Executive Committee with our Chair is Vice-Chair, LeeAnn Torkelson from SRP. Secretary for the third term is Audrie Ouellette, Franchise Owner of Little Caesars in Fountain Hills. Treasurer for this year is Christine Colley, Founder of Fountain Events, Inc. Paul Perreault Jr., Financial Advisor from First Financial Equity Corporation is the Immediate Past Chair.